Anger as driver in bin lorry horror escapes jail on licence charge
THE driver of a bin lorry that crashed killing six people yesterday dodged jail after admitting driving without a licence only months after the tragedy.
Harry Clarke, 60, was spotted behind the wheel of his car nine months after the Glasgow crash in which he blacked out and ploughed through Christmas shoppers.
Despite knowing his licence had been taken away in the wake of the incident on medical grounds, the former refuse collector admitted driving the Vauxhall Corsa from the car park at his flat in the city on to a public street and later back again.
But yesterday at Glasgow Sheriff Court, he avoided jail and was handed community service and a three-year driving ban instead.
Families of the victims and those injured in the George Square carnage, three days before Christmas 2014, reacted with fury last night and branded the sentence ‘a joke’.
Sandy and Muriel Anderson, whose daughter Gillian Ewing, 52, died, said he should have been locked up – but had ‘been let away with it again’.
Last night, at their home in Edinburgh, Mrs Anderson, 80, said: ‘We would have liked him to have got the jail. We need closure. It’s not been easy for us. We are disappointed but not surprised.
‘I don’t know how he could think about driving. He’s just a bad man. He has no feelings.’
Her 86-year-old husband added: ‘He should have been put in jail but he’s been let away with it again.
‘We’ve lost our daughter and that’s what hurts. Gillian was a bubbly person who lit up the room.’
Marie Weatherall, 67, of Glasgow, who spent five days in intensive care after the lorry broke her ankle, leg, arm and shoulder, said: ‘When Harry Clarke decided to get behind the wheel despite being banned, he proved that he has no shame.
‘A three-year ban is nothing, especially when you put it in the context of why he lost his licence in the first place.
‘Six people would still be alive if Harry Clarke hadn’t lied about being fit to be behind the wheel.’
Clarke, who previously lost consciousness at the wheel of a stationary bus in 2010, pleaded guilty last month to culpably and recklessly driving his car on September 20, 2015.
Witnesses recognised him from coverage of the crash and police were informed.
As well as the three-year driving ban, Sheriff Martin Jones, QC, gave him a supervised year-long community payback order, including 150 hours’ unpaid work. A curfew ordered him to stay at home in Baillieston, Glasgow, between 7pm and 7am for four months.
Clarke spoke only to confirm his name and that he understood the sentence.
Sheriff Jones told him his decision to drive, even a short distance, was ‘wholly irresponsible and reprehensible’.
He said: ‘You must have been acutely aware of the possible consequences of you suffering a loss of consciousness while driving.’
He said Clarke’s conduct took the case ‘beyond the custody threshold’ but a sheriff can only jail someone for the first time if they are satisfied no other sentence is suitable.
A Fatal Accident Inquiry ruled the bin lorry crash could have been avoided if Clarke had not lied about his earlier blackouts. The Crown decided not to prosecute him.
‘Irresponsible and reprehensible’